Servant Love Demonstrated part 2

Well, it is good to see you this morning. I hope and pray that You have a good 4th of July. I'll go ahead and share that with you. I Was doing some listening this morning listening to a preacher that I respect Talk about holidays like this. We should be thankful For the land that we live in like I said earlier. I'm thankful for those who have gone before us and served us Thankful for those who service in the military and law enforcement these days and that is a great provision.

We live in a day of Opportunity and freedom and I'm very thankful for that But more than that more than our country More than the land that we live in and I'm thankful for Jesus. I'm thankful for the church I'm thankful that this is not my home. I'm just a pilgrim We're passing on through and we have a hunger within us for spiritual things And a heavenly home and to be with the Lord So I do want to wish you a happy 4th of July this week Like I always say during these times spend some time with family spend some time Visiting being with your children and also take advantage of those times spiritually Take advantage of those times spiritually.

We'll go ahead and take your Bible this morning turn to the Gospel of John We are in John chapter 13 John chapter 13 we looked at just the first few verses more introductory Last week and we are getting started in this new chapter. We transitioned into this new chapter After having spent quite a bit of time in chapter 12 Now I have said this numerous times that we are seeing a transition in the life and the ministry of Jesus Jesus had been involved in this public ministry to all of the nation of Israel and now he is Embarking in this private ministry there with his disciples If you look back in the first 12 chapters You see that Jesus was primarily occupied with revealing himself to the nation Of course most of the nation most all of the people the Jews especially the religious leaders rejected Jesus But now he is transitioning to this private ministry that consists of Jesus teaching His disciples now this private ministry is found here in chapter 13 all the way to chapter 17 This is what most Bible commentators call the farewell discourses Now in your own studies some of you have studying AIDS and books and commentaries Those are good and you might run across commentators or scholars who will call this these chapters the farewell discourses Just remember that they are describing how Jesus is preparing them and really saying goodbye to them Because he will soon be on the cross and then back with the father now I want to offer you some help with the chronological order here I really didn't notice this until this past week But if you glance at your scripture glance at chapter 13 if you look at verse 2 we saw verse 2 Describe what was going on with Judas there at the Passover feast there at the supper We know that this is at the Passover.

There is a supper. There's a feast but right there in verse 2 There is the phrase the verse Describing what goes on with Judas now if you take your Bible you put your hand there and if you turn on over to chapter 18 You will notice that it picks right back up with this betrayal of Jesus now what am I trying to show you in? Skipping over this private farewell discourse in these chapters you will see chronologically how this fits And what this does is this shows us that right here in chapter 13?

Jesus is in the very last night of his life You need to see that Because Jesus will quickly be on the cross although we will spend quite a bit of time in chapter 13 to chapter 17 And then the second thing we see is That Jesus teaches a lot of biblical powerful truth to these disciples in one sitting Just imagine chapter 13 all the way to chapter 17 in one sitting I was thinking about it last night doing some studying that should never make us complain about a long sermon Because they had a very long sermon with a lot of powerful truth that they desperately desperately Needed to see now that chronological order there can help you keep things in perspective Because the cross is truly right around the corner now last week.

We only covered verses 1 through 3 This was really an introduction to the chapter and my eyes We saw this shift in Jesus ministry this shift to his disciples if I can say it like this He had one eye on the disciples and then he had one eye in Glory because he shifted to his disciples and then his attention was always to his rightful place With the father and in this we have the theme if we look at verse 1 the second part of verse 1 That is the theme that we will see all the way through chapters 13 to 2017 and like I said several times it would help you to note that mark that highlight that That theme verse the second portion of verse 1 then we also saw the sinister plan of Satan Satan tempted Judas to betray Jesus There was that progression of evil behavior by Judas and in all of these events We saw just in verses 1 2 & 3 that Jesus was in complete control Now I want to pause here and I want to share we use some personal Application just what this is meant for me personally for me these verses just verses 1 2 & 3 are beautiful lessons Heartwarming lessons that Christ Perseverance and those that he loves these were his disciples and they were going to receive some very personal Private attention again Bible commentators call these chapters the farewell discourses But I really in my personal study want to add to that these are sanctifying Discourses because that's what he is doing.

He is working out this sanctifying work in their lives These are persevering discourses because this is about Christ Persevering in them they do not know what's around the corner. They are not prepared for what is coming And so he is sanctifying them and he is Persevering in them he is preparing them. He has his heart Focus on those that he loved and for me. It's very warming It's very encouraging because he loves us the same that he loved those disciples now.

Let's transition Let's notice the title of the message like I said last week I shared with you that it was going to be a part one in part two So we have that same title and that was servant love demonstrated servant love Demonstrated we'll pick up in verse 4 and go on down to verse 11 You see the truths that we're going to explore four main truths We're going to look at the shocking service of Christ out of verses 4 & 5 The shocking response out of Peter and that's out of several verses verse 6 verse 8 verse 9 the explanation from Jesus That's verse 7 verse 8 and verse 10 and then very quickly the revelation of the traitor Of course, we know this Judas Judas is scary it So four main truths that we're going to look at in these verses.

You'll have plenty of time to write them down We always encourage you to take notes So that you'll receive and retain all that the Lord wants us to have so let's look at our verses I'm going to go back and start in verse 1 again just to have all this together in our minds this morning Starting in verse 1 now before the feast of the Passover Jesus knowing that is our had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father Having loved his own who were in the world.

He loved them to the end and During the supper the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot The son of Simon to betray him verse 3 Jesus knowing that the father had given him all things into his hands and That he had come forth from God and was going back to God verse 4. He rose from the supper He laid aside his garments the English standard says outer garment and taking a towel. He guarded himself about Then he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with a towel which he had Girded himself with verse 6 and so we came to Simon Peter and he said to him Lord. Do you wash my feet?

Jesus again answered and said to him What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand here after Peter said to him never Never shall you wash my feet and Jesus answered him if I do not wash you you have no part with me and Simon Peter said to him Lord not my feet only but also my hands and my head Jesus said to him he who has bathed Needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean and you are clean but not all of you For he knew the one who was betraying him for this reason.

He said not all of you are clean So let's dive right into our verses and I want us to examine our first main truth and that is the shocking service of Christ the shocking service of Christ look at verse 4 just at a glance We see that he rose up from the table and he adjusted his garments and he took that towel and wrapped it around his waist And then he immediately started in verse 5 To wash the disciples feet now last week we read verse 4, but we did not examine that text This was just to introduce us to this activity which was in hand and that was Jesus washing the disciples feet But now notice that I call this shocking I want you to really see that we must see that the behavior of Jesus was shocking now notice there are no words here They were shocking just his actions to the disciples and I want us to observe this behavior two observations I want us to make here First I want you to see that Jesus assumed the role of a servant Jesus assumed the role of A servant look back at verse 4 he arose from the supper He laid aside his garments and taking a towel.

He girded himself about Here we see that Jesus laid aside his garment the new American says the English standard gives a little further explanation It reads outer garment Simply in that day men wore an outer garment and an inner garment Jesus was not shirtless He did not go down to a bare chest simply it meant that he took that outer garment off and he was down to the inner Garment also he took up a towel the new American says he girded himself That simply means that he he put the towel around his waist because he was preparing himself For service now, what does this mean? What does this mean? Why were the disciples so shocked?

Jesus was taking on the role of a servant in that day The host of such festivities would have provided a servant to wash the guests feet They traveled outdoors They traveled by foot They wore what we would call sandals and this was a very very great need. This was a cultural problem. I Was reminded in this study of my journey to India and in that culture They wore lots of sandals and they walk they walked outdoors much like the people in Jesus day And as a matter of fact, you saw lots of dirty feet And this was a common need and this was a common sight to see a servant assume this position And so without saying a word the disciples knew exactly What he was doing and they were shocked They were utterly shocked and then second.

I want you to see That Jesus performed the action of a servant. He performed the action of a servant look at verse 5 Again, no words then he poured water into a basin And he began to wash the disciples feet and the white them with the towel with which he was Girded now we see that Jesus begins the act of Washing the disciples feet.

He did not just assume the role, but he performed the act of a servant You really need to see that he didn't just assume the role that he did the things that a servant would have done But we need to see that this was no ordinary servants role The lowest of servants in the household would have performed this duty The lowest of low would have done such a thing as far as a servants jobs Go this would have been the lowest this would have been the worst So what are we seeing here just out of these verses?

Jesus assumes the lowest positions that being the lowest of the servants But there is something that can be missed if we're not careful notice when Jesus does this Verse 4 tells us this because verse 4 tells us that he does this after the supper Where culturally the norm was for this act to be done before? The supper the host would have wanted his guests to be clean and ready for the supper This points to the great need that the disciples had which exaggerated the shock of the disciples And what they must have felt they would have been speechless by this activity They would have been speechless by everything that Jesus did here now what needs to be seen What do we need to see here in? this action This is in stark contrast to the hearts of the disciples If we go back to some of the synoptics in Luke chapter 22 verse 24 We see that the disciples were literally fighting they were arguing over who was the greatest We see this again in Matthew chapter 18 verse 1 as well And in that we see that their hearts were full of pride while the Lord was full of service Jesus actions here with would have been a razor-sharp dagger into their prideful and seeking hearts there were no words just actions the actions of a servant of a servant and No words were needed Now In application.

I want to call your attention to something There are certain themes in life that are what I call self-evident I Give you a physical earthly example. My wife happens to have an uncle who is six foot eight a Legitimate six eight as a matter of fact he weighs well over 300 pounds I met the man once and when he walked in the room his size was self-evident Nobody had to tell me that he was a big man because it was obvious for the world to see And you know, there are certain things that are evident and no one needs to say one word If you've ever met a very prideful person, it's evident They don't have to tell you they're prideful If you've ever met someone who is humble and meek and mild they do not have to tell you that is Self-evident and that's what we have here the actions of Jesus are evident from the very beginning And these actions are in a stark contrast to the prideful self-seeking hearts of these disciples My question for you an application is this do we need a foot washing service today?

Or do we just need people to be servants See you can be hypocritical in washing someone's feet. I've seen foot washing services before It could be true. It might not be hypocritical It could be the real heart of the individual who is washing people's feet That could be something that runs true in their life But they might be far from a true servant and Christ was a true servant all the way to the cross And I would say to you we don't need a foot washing service We just need men and we need women and we need young people who are true servants and that service is self-evident They don't need a foot washing service to demonstrate that See and let me tell you if you are a servant sir If you are a servant if you're a servant of the church of the Lord Jesus Family man women children whoever you are if you will serve others serve the lost serve your brothers and sisters in Christ And serve the church.

No one will have to ask if you're a servant it will be self-evident Let's move on I want us to notice the second main truth I want us to see this shocking response from Peter This shocking response from Peter look up at verse 6 Read several verses here. And so he this is Jesus Came to Simon Peter and he said to him Lord. Do you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him what I do you do not realize now But you shall understand hereafter again verse 8 Peter said to him never shall you wash my feet?

Jesus answered to him if I do not wash you you have no part with me verse 9 Simon Peter said to him Lord not my feet only but also my hands and my feet now Notice how Peter responded He did not respond when Jesus was washing the other disciples feet go back and look at the verse Because the verse says that he washed the other disciples feet in verse 5, but he only responded when he got to him So he did not respond Until Jesus got to him and let me ask you a question Was he so shocked by this activity that he could not bring himself to speak? Did it did it take Jesus coming to him to bring this response out for everyone to hear?

Whatever was going on in Peter's heart. He finally spoke up and notice this is normal behavior For this impulsive man named Peter. Let's examine how Peter responded just taking these three verses First of all notice that Peter questioned the Lord. Isn't that what we see in verse 6? Here we see that Peter finally spoke up in speaking up. He questions what the Lord was doing What does he say he came to Peter and he said Lord do you wash my feet?

Now it's interesting if you study the construction of the language this entire verse The entire response from Peter is in the emphatic meaning that he was boldly and loudly questioning Jesus Second I want you to notice that Peter refused the Lord verse 8. What does he say? Never never shall you wash my feet Here we see Peter flat out Refuse the Lord for Peter it is unthinkable that the Lord would wash his feet like a common servant or a slave Peter appears to be humble here But truthfully he is dictating to Jesus what he will and will not do So he questions the Lord now he refuses the Lord and then third notice Peter requested the absurd He requested the absurd notice verse 9 again So Peter said to him Lord not my feet only but my hands and my head as well Here we have the usual response from Peter Now he not only will submit to a foot washing But he seems to demand almost a bath all over it seems that Peter is saying whatever you're offering I want it and then I want some more So what are we seeing here with Peter?

What are we seeing Peter is shocked Peter is shocked beyond belief that Jesus would do such a thing But notice the progression he questions Then he refuses and then he makes an absurd request But what do we truly see out of Peter here? He seems to be humble. He seems to be humble in this response, but he is rather proud He is humble on one hand, but on the other hand he is dictating to the Lord Jesus What he will and will not do and at the heart of that is pride Truthfully he is full of self-reliance and simple disobedience One of the Bible commentators I read said it like this he prefers to dictate the terms Now an application I Want us to see that if we're honest if the Lord helps us with our honesty If we will let the Lord work and reveal to us We will see that we are far more like Peter than we want to even admit If God were to open up our eyes we would see that we're far more like Peter than we even realize Let me help you with that We are shocked by many of the circumstances that the Lord brings into our lives Now let's just examine this people if we're born-again Christians we live underneath the sovereignty of God We serve a good God we learn that when we study Job and Job's wife We live under the sovereignty of God and it rains on the just and the unjust and whether the good days are here And the bad days are here.

We must see that Circumstances are ordained by God if we get sick if we lose our spouse If we lose our job if we go from being financially stable to being destitute financially these Circumstances are ordained by God and when tragedy comes or difficulty comes we're shocked What Lord not me? me no Just like Peter I Think we need to see that we question the Lord we question the Lord far more than we know Sometimes we can't question the Lord over and over and over and we might not realize it We can question the Lord just like Peter did for years You mean to tell me Lord you took my spouse Year after year Lord you mean to tell me that you allowed this sickness to come year after year Lord you mean to tell me that you allowed this family tragedy, which has caused me bitterness and grief year after year We can question the Lord year after year after year after year Instead of just saying Lord you're sovereign you're good not submit Matter of fact, I don't think we realize it but we dictate to the Lord We dictate to the Lord far more than we want to admit we tell the Lord how we want our lives We tell the Lord what we want instead of just submitting blindly to the lordship of Christ and see this is none other than self-reliance and Disobedience and it comes out of pride because we're saying Lord.

I know best Now go back to Peter Peter should have said Lord. I don't understand and I don't really like how this feels But I just submit Shouldn't we do the same? Or are we more like Peter than we know now let's examine these first two main truths. This is the shocking service of Christ I mean the disciples were blown away without a word And then this is the shocking response from Peter and we need to see that this foot washing service Was part of Christ working in them. This was part of that private ministry and Peter Was just not getting it So let's move on.

I want us to notice our third main truth and that is the explanation from Jesus This is all interwoven with Peter's response This explanation from Jesus. I'm going to read it again because I think we really need to hear it Verse 6 so he Jesus came to Simon Peter He said to him Lord do you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him what I do you do not realize now But you shall understand hereafter Peter said to him never shall you wash my feet?

Jesus answered to him if I do not wash you you have no part with me Simon Peter said to him Lord not my feet only but my hands in my head And Jesus said to him he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet But is completely clean and if you are clean and you are clean but not all of you So we see Peter's self-reliance and disobedience in his questioning three times He questions or rejects Jesus actions and now we will see Jesus Explain his actions and not only is he explaining his actions to Peter but the significance of the entire activity Now just like there were three responses from Peter.

There's three explanations from Jesus first Jesus exposes Peter's error Jesus answered to him what I what I do you do not now realize but you shall understand here after Now I think there's one word to describe what we see here and that is patience Jesus is patient Jesus does not rebuke Peter but seemingly meets him where he is in his ignorance Not not that he does not correct his self will and pride here because he does this is none other Than great patience on Jesus part this patience was extended to the remaining disciples as well Because truthfully they were right behind Peter So he exposes this error to me in great patience second I want you to see Jesus explains the necessity of these actions verse 8 Jesus answered him if I do not wash you you have no part with Me now here Jesus is getting to the heart of the entire matter Jesus is correcting Peter's lingering misconceptions of what the Messiah might be Peter is still struggling with the idea of a suffering servant Messiah But Jesus is doing more He is communicating to those who do have a saving relationship with him and that they shall be Washed many Bible commentators say this points to the washing Free from sin which comes from the cross that this washing was symbolic of Jesus actions on the cross So Jesus explains the necessity of his actions and then third Jesus expounds more on his actions look at verse 10 Jesus said to him He who has bathed he's only to wash his feet, but it's completely clean and you are clean But not all of you Here Jesus is explaining and expounding in response to Peter's impetuous and ridiculous statements So this statement is corrective and it is explanatory And what Jesus is saying is that the cleansing of salvation?

Need not be repeated when one is redeemed and cleansed from sin in Salvation that is a one-time event But after salvation there is still the need for daily cleansing from sin and the sanctifying process in life So what do we see here? Jesus is teaching that those whom he is redeemed need a cleansing Which can only come from his work in their life This is speaking of that correcting that sanctifying that persevering work of Christ in the life of his own What does he say to Peter in verse 10? What does he say?

You're clean you've been redeemed Meaning you have experienced salvation, but I am giving you this correcting sanctifying work in this action Now what do we need to see here? How does this apply? to our lives First the word patience Jesus is patient with Peter Jesus is patient with the disciples And we need to see that the Lord has to be far more patient with us Then we even see then we even want to admit see we're not very patient with others But we fail to realize that the Lord is patient with us If we would be as patient with others as the Lord is with us then everything would be okay But the Lord is patient but also this explanation from Christ What does he say in the right time you will understand and we need to understand that the work of God in our life Sometimes does not come fully to bear in our understanding Even though they have this wonderful explanation They still did not get it but also correction.

He is correcting their erroneous ideas Their self-will their pride and their expectations So again, this is a persevering work a sanctifying work look back at verse 7 What I do You do not realize now, but you shall understand here after This work takes time It takes time for them to get the work and understand the work and you need to understand that too There are just certain things that take time in our lives They do not come overnight You need to understand that reality for you and for others because if we're not careful We'll look across the congregation that some of our brothers and sisters and say Why can't they get it?

I got it What why can't they be like I am I got it when actually you fail to realize it might have taken you years to get where you are So we need to be patient and we need to have patience with our brothers and sisters Jesus did and He was perfect Let's move on to our fourth main truth Let's notice this revelation of a traitor Verse 10 He who has bathed needs only to be washed wash his feet He is completely clean speaking of salvation. You are clean. What is he saying to Peter? You're born again. I've saved you a long time ago But not all of you Verse 11 for he knew the one who is betraying him for this reason.

He said not all of you are clean Here Jesus is revealing to the disciples that a traitor is in their midst He knew all that the father had revealed to him and he was in complete control. This was no surprise It had been prophesied that one of his own would betray him Hundreds of years ago the Word of God said that this what happened but notice what seems to have happened here notice Jesus washed the feet of the one who would betray him Verse 5 says that he washed the disciples feet and then he moved to Peter in verse 6 This does not mean that Judas was redeemed because verse 11 says so amazingly Jesus washes the feet of the very one who would sell him out for 30 pieces of silver Now what can we learn here?

What must we apply just from this simple observation? We need to see that Jesus loved the most vile and wicked man on the face of the earth at that time I cannot imagine a more wicked man in that day selling out the King of glory And he loved him he washed his feet And for us this should condemn us this should shame us Because outside of a work of Christ we shun people like this and Jesus is teaching us to serve the biggest of sinners the most dirty of sinners because we do not know the plan of God and we might not realize that he is desiring and will save that big sinner that we love and We must see that if Jesus washed the feet of the most rank of sinners in that day We should serve them as well Now as we conclude the message As we wrap up what we have learned How can we summarize what we see in Jesus washing? his disciples feet Two words are pictured here Humility and service Jesus humbled himself to the lowest of servants and Jesus served his disciples and even the worst of sinners.

I mean that wraps it up people humility and Service and we need to come away from this with an understanding and a challenge first the understanding understanding the internal Correcting persevering work of Christ in his own it just takes time Jesus is very very patient with his own and we need to understand that work You will not be a champion for Christ overnight It takes time to make a great man of God in this internal correcting persevering Sanctifying work it just takes time in you And then second the challenge The challenge is to humble ourselves to serve to serve his own now who are his own the church the Challenge is for us to serve our brothers and sisters those whom he has redeemed and not only the church But the most wicked And I'll tell you God will bring you the most wicked before you know it and That will prove who you really are Humility service title of the message serve it love Demonstrated may this title describe our lives Let's pray